Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car

Development staff

Video game overview

Release date(s)

Mode(s)

Platform(s)

Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car (わくわくソニックパトカー,Wakuwaku Sonikku Patokā?) is a children ride released in December 1991 exclusively in Japan. The arcade ride is part of Sega's "Wakuwaku" line[1] and features Sonic the Hedgehog playing the role of a police officer, patrolling the streets of a city and keeping it safe from Dr. Eggman. Both Japanese and English versions of the ride exists, though the English version was not exported to other countries and was likely used in areas with a large number of visiting English speaking tourists.

Contents

Gameplay

The opening of the children ride, featuring Sonic as a police officer.

The kiddy ride features a simple video game in a family-sized cabinet that is spacious enough to accommodate two adults and is designed like a police car. The game and its story lasts for two minutes in total after inserting the coin.[2] The cabinet's dashboard has a left-to-right manner in sync with Sonic's patrol car and is controlled by a steering wheel. There are separated buttons, one which causes Sonic to perform a Spin Jump out of his vehicle[2] and the other which allows the player to turn on the siren and start the game.

In the kiddy ride, the player is controlling Sonic who takes the role of a police officer. He gives an introductory speech and jumps into a round patrol car for a daily patrol routine. At the beginning of the patrol, the player has to avoid making collisions with other cars in the traffic and dodge an animal friends pedestrian crossing. Getting hit by cars causes the police car to rotate for a small amount of time, while the player loses control.

After a short period of time, Dr. Eggman appears in a red vehicle and begins making a traffic offense by throwing small bombs at Sonic, which have the same effect as colliding with other cars. The player must activate the siren and pursue Eggman while destroying his vehicle by Spin Jumping on it a few times before the ride ends. If the player succeeds, Eggman's vehicle will explode. The doctor then escapes and Sonic returns to the police station where he thanks the player for driving.

Depending on how well the player avoided the cars and Eggman's bombs, the kiddy ride rewards the player with a certain amount of stars from one to five.

Characters

Adaptations

An Off Panel featuring Waku Waku Sonic Patrol Car.

In Sonic the Hedgehog #288-#290 the Off Panel features a three-part story of The Adventures of Officer Sonic. The story takes place in the world of Waku Waku which consists of roads and highways. Officer Sonic is a cop while Ivan "Bad Egg" Robotnik is a rockabilly reckless driver. Officer Sonic eventually stopped Bad Egg when he ran over a spike strip set up by Tails and Knuckles, who were also cops. Upon going to jail, Officer Sonic tells Bad Egg he would have to do community service to be let out early. Bad Egg does so only to run afoul of a speeder.